Radio World

Entercom’s Radio.com digital platform is now part of Xperi’s DTS Connected Radio hybrid radio ecosystem.

The announcement gives insight into how Xperi is positioning its system. Senior VP, Radio Joe D’Angelo was quoted: “DTS Connected Radio continues to build on its mission to give today’s car-owners the visually rich, immersive listening experience they expect from the digital dash, while ensuring broadcaster editorial control.”

The platform recently came to market in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and Xperi says more vehicle launches are pending.

For Entercom, the benefits here are “increased engagement, expanded reach and turnkey management and control of content for each of our local broadcasters,” according to VP, Corporate Business Development David Rosenbloom.

[Related: “Hybrid Radio Picks Up Momentum”]

With the hybrid system, Radio.com radio stations will appear with artwork, artist and album information and playlists. The DTS system allows listener personalization and also provides “service following” capability — when a vehicle drives out of broadcast range, it switches in the background to the online version.

The companies said the integration also means economies of scale. Radio.com is home not only to Entercom’s 230 stations but hundreds of affiliates.

With this new relationship, they said in the announcement, “Broadcasters can easily integrate and manage their services, station information, and streams in one place via the RADIO.COM platform integration, all while maintaining control of their content, with all changes reflected in vehicles with DTS Connected Radio.”

 

 

The post Entercom Joins the DTS Connected Radio Ecosystem appeared first on Radio World.

Order for TRT on the Nautel factory floor

Nautel has snagged another big contract to provide FM transmitters in Turkey.

The company is supplying 30 NVLT FM transmitters to Turkish Radio-Television Corp. with the option to purchase 12 more if needed.

These transmitters are all 5 kW models. The transmitters will be deployed at key locations throughout the country next year.

“Based in Ankara, TRT provides five regional and six national radio services as well as six AM radio broadcasts,” Nautel noted in its announcement.

“Additionally, Voice of Turkey provides shortwave programming in 32 languages. TRT radio is available on internet, satellite and cable as well as terrestrial services.”

In 2009, Nautel won a contract for 224 FM transmitters in a range of power levels up to 20 kW, and it supplied three 300 kW MW transmitters to TRT in 2008-2009. It said its transmitters have been “used to modernize a large portion of Turkey’s national FM Radio infrastructure.”

Yusef Tasdemir is the head of the Transmitter Operations Department at TRT. Ilker Aydin Akin is sales manager for Europe, Russia and Israel at Nautel.

Send news for Who’s Buying What stories to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Nautel Supplies 30 FM Transmitters to TRT appeared first on Radio World.

A divided Senate has approved Pres. Trump’s Republican nominee to the FCC, Nathan Simington.

Democrats strongly opposed the nomination of Simington, currently with the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, arguing it was a way to stymie the Democratic FCC agenda out of the gate, but Republicans prevailed in a straight party line vote 49–46, though with no floor defense of the President’s nominee after Democrats had pilloried him.

Senate Republicans have consistently appeared unenthusiastic about the Simington nomination, not speaking up strongly for him during the Commerce Committee’s approval of the nomination on Tuesday before voting (the same 49–46) to proceed to a vote on his nomination.

[Read: Chairman Pai Will Leave FCC in January]

Simington was the president’s choice while traditionally congressional Republicans would have a voice in the pick.

He is expected to take his seat, succeeding outgoing commissioner Michael O’Rielly, late Thursday (Dec. 8) or Friday, following the FCC’s Thursday public meeting.

President Donald Trump nominated O’Rielly for a second term, but pulled the nomination following a speech in which O’Rielly raised questions about efforts to regulate social media, something the President has been pushing the FCC to do.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, was the first to speak on the Simington nomination after the Senate, again divided along party lines, had voted to limit debate and proceed, eventually, to the nomination vote.

She said she had questions about his neutrality and independence, given reports he had tried to enlist Fox News to spotlight the issue of regulating social media and given the abrupt withdrawal of O’Rielly’s nomination in favor of Simington, who worked on NTIA’s petition to the FCC seeking social media regulation, a petition Trump had mandated in an executive order as part of his effort to regulate sites, like Twitter and Facebook, he has long argued censor Republicans, including him.

“I hope that we will not pass the Simington nomination,” Cantwell said, but added that if he was to be confirmed, as assumed, her colleagues should move quickly to also approve a Democratic nominee to the commission, when one is chosen. She pointed out that, usually, Republican and Democratic FCC nominees are paired in such circumstances. A Republican Senate is not likely to rush to such confirmation, however.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the second senator to speak on the nomination, pulled no punches.

He said Simington was dangerous to the FCC at this moment in history, for which he was the wrong person at the wrong time, pointing to President Trump’s attempts to retaliate against social media platforms, his attempts to enlist the FCC in that effort, and Simington’s participation in that effort.

Blumenthal called him unprepared and unqualified for the post. He also cited the potential gridlock issue and noted the usual bipartisan pairing of nominees. He urged a no vote.

Democrats have reason to be worried that Simington’s installation could tie up the Democratic agenda after Jan. 20 — there would be two Democrats and two Republicans — and until a third Democrat can be named to Pai’s commission seat — he is exiting Jan. 20 — which if Republicans retain control of the Senate could be months down the road.

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr, who will be the only other Republican on the commission after the chairman exits, has been urging the Senate to confirm Simington so together they can thwart a Democratic FCC’s moves out of the gate.

In an appearance on Fox Business’ “Cavuto Coast-to-Coast,” Carr said: “I think it would be very valuable to get Simington across the finish line and help forestall what really would be billions of dollars’ worth of economic damage that I think a Democratic FCC would look to jam through from Day One. One thing a Democratic FCC is expected to do is restore net neutrality rules, which Carr has called “socialism in sheep’s clothing.”

 

The post Republican Nathan Simington Confirmed to FCC Seat appeared first on Radio World.

Wayne Eckert is an engineer with the Rural Florida Communications Cooperative. He occasionally comments here in Workbench on electrical matters of interest to broadcast engineers.

He noted the article by Mark Persons in the Oct. 14 issue of Radio World detailing lightning damage at KRJM. For engineers who are interested, he points out that AT&T has a relevant document “Grounding and Bonding for Network Facilities” that can be downloaded free in PDF form.

Fig. 1: The down conductor has been stapled to the 4-by-4 pole.

Wayne writes that while the document was created for central office grounding and bonding, it is now considered a company reference for all cell sites as well. And many parts it are applicable to broadcast sites, studios or any other facility where uptime is of high importance.

Wayne believes that if just some of the practices detailed in the AT&T document had been applied at KRJM, the damage suffered could have been greatly reduced.

One thing that caught Wayne’s eye was it appears that the pole supporting the STL link lacked a down ground. Wayne bases this opinion on the damage to the pole and from what Wayne could see in the photograph.

A down ground is an old utility practice and is a simple lightning protection device. Normally before the pole is placed, a lineman will secure a #6 hard drawn copper conductor to the pole with fencing staples. This line will attach from the top of the pole to the “butt” or bottom of the pole, leaving 6 inches or so of it standing above the top and coil up a few feet of the cable on the butt.

The goal is to produce a grounding electrode on the butt of the pole, so when the pole is placed in the earth it will make good contact with the earth.

If the pole is already in place, you can add a down conductor by installing an 8-foot ground rod into the earth.

Note well: Before pounding anything into the earth, contact your state’s one-call utility notification center. All states have such centers and require by law that you call 48 to 72 hours before digging. In most states the number is 811.

A “locate” will be scheduled and done at no charge to determine if there are any underground utilities present. Keep in mind that though this service is free, it is not “next day,” so plan your work, giving the “locates” folks plenty of time. Failing to notify them can get you killed should you drive the ground rod through an electrical cable or natural gas pipe. At the least, it can result in being sent a substantial bill from a utility should you damage something below grade.

The down conductor provides a bypass for the lightning’s energy into the earth, sparing the pole from extensive damage. Keep in mind that all pole attachments shall be bonded to the down ground cable. It is required by code that you bond the grounding electrode to the building’s grounding system using a direct buried #6 copper conductor, which prevents potential differences between grounds.

Wayne included several photographs that detail a down ground installed on a pressure treated 4-by-4 support pole.

In Fig. 1 above, note how the down ground is stapled to the support post. Also note that the last 36 inches or so of the down ground cable is protected by a piece of PVC pipe secured to the post.

Since the size of the 4×4 is too small for a butt coil, a ground rod was used, shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

In this photo, also note that all of the bends in the grounding conductors are sweeps (gentle curves, no sharp angles). This is very important as it minimizes the inductance in the grounding conductors.

Fig. 3: A view at the top of the pole.

Wayne writes that though lightning is direct current, it acts more like RF due to its extremely fast rise time, so inductance must be kept to a minimum.

Fig. 3 shows the top of the 4×4 pole with a pigtail, to which supporting structures like antennas or STL dishes can be bonded and grounded.

More on GDTs and MOVs

Robert LaJeunesse in Ann Arbor, Mich., holds an MSEE. He read with interest our discussions about gas discharge tubes and metal oxide varistors.

Bob points out that there are unique differences. The MOV clamps above its breakdown voltage while the GDT clamps below its breakdown voltage.

This may seem like a minor point but it has a major impact on the power dissipated by the clamping device, not to mention the pass-through energy.

With the GDT clamping lower, this device reduces the amount of energy that can pass into the subsequent protected circuitry; and the lower clamping voltage likely allows for more clamping current without over-dissipating.

It also makes sense that both be used together to protect a load. The MOV would absorb lower power surges but might allow the voltage to rise significantly above the MOV threshold on a higher current surge. The GDT can then kick in and clamp the voltage down, pushing more of the dissipated power back to the source — and source wiring — thus limiting the surge power that gets to the protected device.

Bob notes two PDF resources from Littelfuse to learn more. One is “Varistor Products Overview.” The other is a datasheet about its CG6 gas discharge tubes.

John Bisset has spent more than 50 years in the broadcasting industry. With this column he begins his 31st year writing Workbench. He handles western U.S. radio sales for the Telos Alliance. John holds CPBE certification with the Society of Broadcast Engineers. He is also a past recipient of the SBE’s Educator of the Year Award. Workbench submissions are encouraged, qualify for SBE Recertification and can be emailed to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

The post Workbench: A Lineman’s Tips to Ground an STL Pole appeared first on Radio World.

Emergency alerts will be showing up on more digital billboards in the United States through a partnership of FEMA and Lamar Advertising.

“The alerts are transmitted over FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) on select Lamar digital billboards throughout the country,” the agency wrote in a press release.

[Read: COVID-19 and Emergency Alerting Best Practices]

The announcement was made by Administrator Pete Gaynor, who called 2020 an “unprecedented” year for public alerts thanks to the pandemic and “a record number” of hurricanes.

IPAWS alerts have appeared on Lamar digital billboards in 17 states “and are available to run in all 43 states that Lamar covers,” FEMA said.

“Alerts will be displayed for 30 minutes at a time. Not all alerts sent through FEMA will appear on a Lamar billboard.”

FEMA said that since 2011 IPAWS has carried more than 81,000 alerts and warnings, and of those, 11,000 have been delivered in 2020 alone.

The post FEMA Expands Use of Billboards for Alerts appeared first on Radio World.

The Telos Alliance has released a “soft” console through its Axia Audio badge.

The iQs AES67 mixing console software is an HMTL5 software-based console designed to provide remote operation powers via Windows and Mac computers along with mobile devices. It works with the company’s AE-1000 server or Docker.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Telos Alliance Executive VP of Sales, Support, and Marketing Marty Sacks said, “IQs software runs on roads built by industries much larger than our own and gives broadcasters flexible options for deployment, including our new AE-1000 server and Docker container. … All while giving you total control with a simple web browser, allowing broadcast engineers to ‘Studio Anywhere.’”

According to a release iQs is scalable and allows multiple iterations at the same time. It is compatible with off-the-shelf hardware and has easy upgrade paths. Multiple subscription levels are available. It also allows for customization.

The company also points to the advantage of cloud-based systems such as trimming cap-ex costs and also eliminating or keeping physical plant costs under control.

Info: www.telosalliance.com

 

The post Telos Alliance Releases Axia iQs Soft Console appeared first on Radio World.

An image from the FCC’s “5G FAST Plan” web page

The Federal Communications Commission has begun its largest auction of mid-band 5G spectrum.

With legacy occupants now in the process of clearing out, the commission is making “280 megahertz of prime mid-band spectrum in the 3.7–3.98 GHz band” available.

Chairman Ajit Pai said the FCC “is paving the way for Americans to receive fast 5G wireless services. Together with the recent success of our 3.5 GHz band auction, our work to auction the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands in 2021, and the other groundbreaking spectrum auctions we’ve held since 2017, our 5G FAST Plan is in full swing.”

Satellite companies, including the ones that serve the radio broadcast industry, are moving their services to different frequencies, a process that has involved broadcasters having to adjust their own infrastructure. The commission said the first phase of the repack of satellite operators will be done by this time next year, and the second will conclude by December of 2023.

Pai highlighted the pace of the process, saying the mid-band spectrum “will be available to deliver next-generation connectivity to American consumers and businesses years ahead of schedule.”

“This spectrum holds the potential to be prime spectrum for 5G services given its combination of geographic coverage and capacity, and the FCC’s auction procedures will ensure the assignment to auction winners of contiguous spectrum blocks allowing wide channel bandwidths that support 5G deployment,” the FCC stated.

The post C-Band 5G Spectrum Auction Begins appeared first on Radio World.

Several major U.S. media groups believe “front-line” journalists should be among those who get early access to vaccines.

The organizations sent a letter to a committee that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They say journalists who provide “critical and essential functions in their communities” should be included in the early phases. They emphasize the work of journalists as “a lifeline of important health information” and an important part of public education about  the value of vaccines and the logistics involved.

The National Association of Broadcasters is one of the signatories.

“While highlighting the risk to journalists who are in the field reporting about health care workers and patients, meeting with people in essential businesses and covering rallies, protests and public events, the letter clearly specifies that the most at-risk populations should come first,” NAB wrote in a press release about it.

“The news media organizations support prioritizing vaccines for front-line health care workers, first responders and others providing critical support, as well as the most at-risk populations. However, the letter urges the committee to consider the essential role of journalists and the risks they encounter as it develops subsequent phases of vaccine deployment.”

Among organizations signing it are PBS, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Association and numerous other journalism groups.

 

 

The post Should Front-Line Reporters Get Early Vaccines? appeared first on Radio World.

Mark Persons is shown receiving the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award virtually

Prior to this autumn, only nine people had received a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

Mark Persons is the 10th. The award was presented to Persons during an SBE online membership meeting and award ceremony. Radio World is proud that Mark is a longtime contributor and valued member of the RW family.

We asked him to share thoughts and memories of his career.

This story starts in the mid-1920s when my father, Charles B. Persons, became a radio broadcast engineer at age seventeen at WEBC Radio in Duluth, Minn. — the only station in town. It grew to become part of a seven-station network before he left to build our own WELY in Ely, Minnesota, in 1954.

It was a great time for me to learn electronics and Ohm’s Law, turn knobs on the 250-watt AM transmitter and build Heathkit equipment at age seven. That station was later owned by well-known CBS journalist Charles Kuralt.

I became a radio amateur in 1963, the year before our family built and owned KVBR Radio in Brainerd, Minn. At age 17, it was a natural for me to wire the transmitter and studios with the latest innovation: cartridge tape decks.

There was never a question about my future. Broadcast engineering was not just a job, it was a lifestyle.

Three years later, I found little interest in college, which taught nothing about electronics. I enlisted in the U.S. Army and taught electronic repair at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Then it was off to Vietnam to do high-tech electronic repair. The plan was to fulfill the obligation to our country so I could go back to broadcast engineering in 1969.

Work ramped up in the 1970s, when engineers were let go from radio stations because the FCC no longer required them. Soon I was a full-time independent radio broadcast engineer, building 12 new stations and repairing countless others. Good test equipment helped solve the problem of a noticeable hearing loss from my service in Vietnam.

Treat it like your own

Coming from a family ownership situation, I treated each station as if it were my own. The attachment was personal because the work was mostly for clients who believed in engineering. A message on our telephone recorder said, “I am out working on one of America’s great radio stations.”

My wife Paula came into the business full-time after working as a legal secretary. She has a keen sense of character and it paid off. Her job was to run the office, freeing me to go out in the field 60 hours a week at 40 or more clients.

Once I was almost hit head-on by a drunk driver at 2 a.m. but went in a ditch instead.

I never wanted to own a station. The challenge of installing, troubleshooting and repairing equipment was more than enough. It is a great feeling to get all electrons flowing in the same direction, so to speak.

Along the way, two engineers tried to get into our “territory” by promising lower prices. (They never asked; we might have given them a few stations.) In the end, the clients came back to us for dependable results.

We lost less than $4,000 to bad debts over the years. I remember two times when a customer was slow to pay and then called looking to send me to a transmitter right away. Paula’s response in one case was, “You are no longer a customer!” That day I drove right by his downed transmitter while coming back from another project and did not stop.

That dented our reputation a bit, but we stuck by our principles. As Paula said, “We are not a bank that loans money.”

The author working at KLOH(AM) in 1988.

My first AM directional was a five-tower array in 1982 at Hibbing, Minn. It was built from parts, including a custom phasor controller. The phasor was, and still is, a room in a building with an eight-foot-high aluminum wall with inductors, capacitors and contactors on the backside. Coupling units were built open-panel style at each tower.

The client liked this so much that he had me build a three-tower array in Cape Coral, Fla., and a three-tower in Carmel Valley, Calif. All 10KW stations. He gave me the freedom to design and build what I thought was best for each job.

Then there were more than 40 C-Quam AM stereo installations. One of them was at the Cape Coral station, which introduced the “oldies” format in 1986. It placed second in the Arbitron after being on the air only six weeks.

Sharing knowledge

Never satisfied, I modified equipment, then designed and built many electronic gadgets used in stations. That evolved into designing products for manufacture such as the Programmer 3A Live Assist Program Controller and the Max-Tel Remote Broadcast Telephone, later updated to be the Max-Z and ZII.

I have always enjoyed telling stories. Approximately 188 of my articles have been published, mostly in Radio World. Then there is the popular Tech Tips section on my http://mwpersons.com website, where free answers are given to radio broadcast engineering problems.

[Read recent Radio World columns by Mark Persons.]

We retired when I was 70 and mentored two engineers to take over the territory. There was no charge except for a few hours of classroom training to bring them up to speed on measuring AM impedance etc. Then the SBE mentor program added two mentees in other parts of the country. I also became a member of the National Radio Systems Committee’s AM Improvement Working Group.

It is volunteer work, and it feels good to continue to be a part of the broadcast industry that I grew up and prospered in.

The plan is to keep writing articles for Radio World in the quest of spreading knowledge to broadcast engineers everywhere. Radio has a great future and needs good engineers to keep it going.

Regarding the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award: I had no intention of seeking that or any other accolade. Life just worked out that way while keeping the “families” of stations the best they can be. Paula says she will bury me next to a transmitter when the time comes.

Comment on this or any article. Write to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The SBE John H. Battison Award for Lifetime Achievement recognizes and pays tribute to individuals for their dedication, lifelong achievement and outstanding contribution to broadcast engineering, according to the society. Prior recipients are Benjamin Wolfe and James Wulliman (1995), Philo and Elma Farnsworth (1997), Morris Blum (1998), Richard Rudman (2002), Richard Burden (2005), John Battison (2006) and Terry Baun (2010). You can watch the replay of the membership meeting and awards ceremonies on the SBE YouTube channel.

The post Mark Persons: “I Never Had a Plan B” appeared first on Radio World.

Radioplayer said it gave the first public demonstration of a three-way or “tri-platform” hybrid radio app in the Android Automotive Operating System.

The app combines DAB+ and FM over-the-air radio with online streams. The organization said the demo was for an online audience of major carmakers using automotive-grade tuner hardware.

Managing Director Michael Hill said, “Our aim is to make hybrid radio the standard experience in Android Automotive; this is the first step towards that.”

Radioplayer is a not-for-profit that started in 2011 in the U.K. as a partnership of the BBC and commercial radio. It now operates in numerous European countries and Canada, with France and Sweden pending.

[Read: “Radioplayer Expands in Europe”]

The three-way app was developed in partnership with Tier 1 technology supplier Panasonic Automotive Systems Europe, or PASEU.

“The hybrid app has a single, multi-platform station list that hides the platform from the user and allows them to select a radio station from the strongest available signal, prioritizing DAB+, then FM, followed by streaming, and automatically switching between platforms if the car moves out of coverage,” Radioplayer stated.

“The unique Radioplayer User Interface is powered by official broadcaster metadata from the Worldwide Radioplayer API and is fully compliant with Google’s Android Automotive Design Guidelines and the WorldDAB User Experience Design Guidelines.”

Radioplayer said its hybrid app is now available to car manufacturers to use in Android Automotive cars and that the UI can be customized.

“Radioplayer is also seeking to partner with Google to ensure hybrid capability for all radio apps and help improve the current standard radio experience in Android Automotive,” it stated.

“Further development of the app will see on-demand and podcast content, enhanced now-playing visuals such as artist images, as well as station recommendations, added early next year.”

 

The post Radioplayer Demos 3-Way Hybrid App appeared first on Radio World.

Kaylee Good is one of the hosts and student management leaders at WLTL Radio.

Illinois’ WLTL Radio has been named Best High School Radio Station in a program that recognizes excellence in high school radio broadcasting.

The John Drury High School Radio Awards are named in honor of ABC-Chicago news anchor John Drury. They are presented by North Central College and WONC Radio in Naperville, Ill.

WLTL Radio at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Ill., has won numerous awards in this program in the past, and in 2020 it was named to the top award during an online ceremony. It also won in individual categories for news feature story, specialty music program, on-air promotion, social media campaign and best website.

WLTL Radio is a student-run volunteer station that launched in 1968. It celebrates its history and its alumni at www.wltl.net.

Chris Thomas is faculty advisor and general manager. “Despite everything that 2020 has thrown at our students, they still did their best to produce quality content and entertaining programming for our community listening on 88.1 FM and streaming around the globe on WLTL.net, and today’s honors recognize their hard work and dedication. I am immensely proud of them,” Thomas said in a press release.

Read the list of nominees.

 

The post WLTL Is Named Best High School Station appeared first on Radio World.

The 2021 National Religious Broadcasters convention will be postponed after all.

Planners of NRB 2021 had been optimistic that they could have a physical event in March in Grapevine, Texas, and had reconfirmed that intention to Radio World in late November.

But today CEO Troy Miller wrote in an email to potential attendees that “our team came to the conclusion that while we could host an in-person event safely in March, many of you would be limited in your plans to attend or hold meetings during the event.”

NRB has moved the event to June 21 to 24.

“These additional three months will enable more opportunities to network and fellowship without as many of the current restrictions and limitations. With the additional time, increased effectiveness of treatments and widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, June will be much closer to a full return to normal,” he wrote.

Any hotel reservations at the Gaylord Texan will automatically be updated.

 

The post NRB Postpones March Convention After All appeared first on Radio World.

iHeart announced a partnership to provide holiday music stations to viewers of the Roku Channel.

“America’s most popular iHeartRadio holiday music stations will be easily accessible to all users of The Roku Channel, available on Roku players and TVs, The Roku Channel mobile app, web, Samsung Smart TVs and Amazon Fire TVs,” according to iHeartRadio blog.

[Read: iHeart Lists Top 10 Overall Songs of 2020]

That includes iHeart Christmas, iHeartChristmas Classics, iHeartChristmas Country, iHeartChristmas R&B and iHeartChristmas Rock.

The company said the integration is free to Roku viewers “and marks the first time iHeartRadio’s hit music stations can be enjoyed in a video-focused experience.”

iHeartRadio’s content catalog remains available on the iHeartRadio channel on Roku devices.

The post iHeart Holiday Stations Are on Roku Channel appeared first on Radio World.

Ben Poor

The author is project manager, radio, on the Technology and Innovation team of the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public service media with 115 member organizations in 56 countries. 

For almost as long as radio and television services have existed, a large amount of effort has been expended on measuring the audiences that listen to them.

Largely driven by the boom in U.S. commercial broadcasting in the 1930s, measurements were necessary to define the advertising models that were to sustain these new services.

Although audience measurement on television would come to dominate what is understood to be “listening figures,” audience measurement is still a vital part of radio both for commercial and public service broadcasters.

In Europe, methods of audience measurement for radio vary between countries, but three methods have been generally adopted across industry: diaries, interviews and electronic measurement.

These give periodic snapshots of listening (e.g. ranging from daily to twice yearly), which does not give a clear picture of individual usage, either being driven purely from device usage, or being more based off brand recall, as such providing a broader picture of performance.

More detailed information about real engagement with specific programs, special events, segments and topics is lost in the aggregation. An experienced manager will know that a good radio station is the sum of all these parts yet relies on “craft” that can sometimes be hard to justify to those who control budgets.

An alternative arrived in the 1990s with the rise of online measurement. This introduced a number of new metrics but also provided analytic data that could be available instantly.

Thus, those publishing on the web could have a live view of how audiences were reacting to their content. For newspaper publishers, this has fundamentally changed their business; and although this has led to a rise in “clickbait,” it is notable that audiences still place value in “trusted sources.”

Audience measurement for radio services has been changing in similar ways with the rise of internet streaming and connected devices. Being able to measure how many people are listening to a stream, during what times and for how long can, in theory, give us the analogy to traditional measurement, with the benefit of being near-instantaneous.

Broadcasters have been trying this for the best part of two decades, although currently largely only for internal use. The reason is that much of this data relies on inference from server logs, by using proprietary methods from the broadcaster’s own applications or through third-party applications. A lack of shared technical standards and methodologies has limited development.

By contrast, traditional methods may not be sophisticated or granular but they have the advantage that they have been accepted as valid and largely transparent. Additionally, the different actors that sit between a broadcaster and their listeners can obfuscate the situation, resulting in the broadcaster not getting the full picture.

With a distribution chain that now includes increasing number of layers, each with opportunities for aggregation and caching, numbers are harder to rely on. For newer connected platforms like smart speakers, acquiring comparable figures can be challenging both for live and on-demand listening and again reliant on the platform (e.g. Amazon, Google) granting access. Importantly, the only party with access to the whole picture is the platform provider itself.

While internet streaming for radio has previously been a minority proportion of overall listening, dwarfed by use of broadcast, this will perhaps change as audiences consume more on-demand and personalized content, as well as with the further rollout of connected cars.

A clearer view of consumption across all platforms will become more and more important. Having a standardized method that can directly carry analytics for both broadcast and broadband, live and on-demand — the full spectrum of hybrid radio — is needed.

Such an effort has started as a collaboration among several organizations, led by the RadioDNS Technical Group, which I chair. The body is responsible for developing and maintaining open standards for hybrid radio, involving representatives from broadcasters and associations across three continents (including the National Association of Broadcasters and the European Broadcasting Union) as well as device manufacturers and service providers.

The goal of the project is to develop a free and open standard for the gathering of analytic data from the connected devices themselves, as well as the definition of a basic set of data to be gathered. By optionally using RadioDNS Hybrid Lookup, the broadcaster can define and control where the data is sent regardless of whether the listening is happening over broadcast or broadband.

Having the ability to determine how a listener moves between platforms (e.g. FM and IP), the broadcaster’s own radio services and live/on-demand during a session, in an anonymized way, is key to revealing the real value of hybrid radio services.

This can act as proof to broadcasters of their value, in a way that supports future investment. This benefits device manufacturers, increasing the coverage and quality of hybrid radio services that can be offered free-to-access for their own customers.

Ultimately, the winner will be the listener. Regardless of the means and mode of listening, enabling measurability for the connected era can improve radio, keeping it vibrant and exciting in an increasingly competitive space.

 

The post Collaboration Seeks a Radio Analytics Standard appeared first on Radio World.

Just in time for the studio-that-has-everything is something the studio doesn’t have — a black Electro-Voice RE20 microphone for under the radio station Christmas tree.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

EV calls it a “low-reflection dark charcoal finish” for the venerable radio broadcaster standard. Ideally, besides being stylish it should provide use in radio studios with video cameras (not that the traditional putty-colored finish was particularly shiny).

The RE20 Black is really a horse of another color with the EV Variable D design, integrate pop filter, humbucking coil and a mid-bass filter.

Info: www.electrovoice.com

 

The post RE20 Has the New Black for Electro-Voice appeared first on Radio World.

A unique combination of an unsupervised tower structure and a radio contest gone awry led the Enforcement Bureau to levy a $125,000 civil penalty against a Florida broadcaster as part of a consent decree.

Magic Broadcasting II LLC was the subject of two investigations by two units within the Federal Communications Commission — the Enforcement Bureau and the Investigation and Hearings Division (IHD).

In 2018 the IHD began investigating a complaint that alleged that Magic Broadcasting’s station WILN(FM) failed to conduct radio contests in a fair manner. In the first instance, a complainant suggested that winners of an on-air radio contest were preselected. A scavenger hunt-like contest called Troll Tracker was initiated by WILN and ran for several weeks, even though the bureau alleged that a female listener allegedly solved the puzzle early on and was asked to sign nondisclosure agreements so that the station could continue the contest and entice the broadcast audience to keep listening through a long, drawn-out competition.

[Read: Contest Missteps Slip Up Two Texas Stations]

Likewise, in a second contest called Alexa Almighty, the station offered callers the chance to win prizes if they called into the station at certain times of day. But according to a complaint filed with IHD, it was impossible for the station to have conducted the contest as advertised because there was no live DJ on-air at the time the listeners were asked to call in. “Instead the station allegedly aired prerecorded calls between station employees and their friends posting as contest participants,” the IHD complaint states.

In these two cases, even though the Enforcement Bureau issued a letter of inquiry to Magic Broadcasting to seek more information, Magic Broadcasting could neither confirm or deny the truth of the allegations. The bureau said Magic also did not provide any evidence to rebut the issues in the complaint, although the broadcaster was repeated asked about these matters.

A second, unrelated issue appeared when, in September 2019, the Enforcement Bureau received an anonymous field complaint that an antenna structure had not been properly lit for more than a year. An agent from the bureau’s Miami Field Office investigated and determined that Magic Broadcasting station WVFT(FM) was licensed to operate from that antenna structure.

Magic Broadcasting admitted that it failed to monitor the state of the lighting system over a period of 453 days as required by FCC Rules, that it failed to immediately notify the Federal Aviation Administration that a light was out on the antenna structure as required by FCC Rules and that it failed to notify the commission of its acquisition in 2012 of the entire antenna structure itself.

Both of these two issues were resolved when Magic Broadcasting and the Enforcement Bureau agreed to enter into a consent decree. As part of the deal, Magic agreed to comply with several stipulations including that it create internal procedures to ensure compliance of the lighting system rules of the antenna structure, create internal procedures to ensure compliance with contest laws and live broadcast rules, and develop a compliance manual and training program for all employees to ensure the company complies with FCC Rules.

As part of the consent decree, Magic is also required to report any noncompliance with the aforementioned rules within 15 days of discovery of such noncompliance. Magic must also file compliance reports with the commission several times over the next five years.

In addition to following compliance procedures, Magic also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $125,000 in 20 installments of $6,250, the first of which is due 30 days after the effective date of the consent decree. If Magic defaults on any of the payments, the unpaid amount will accrue interest and the remaining amount will become immediately due.

 

The post Broadcaster to Pay $125,000 as part of Civil Penalty and Consent Decree appeared first on Radio World.

Business software tools developer Veritone has announced several changes for the good in its Discovery and Attribute advertising analysis software platforms.

According to the company, the Discovery ad campaign and analysis application now has more thorough campaign analysis; improved usage of Nielsen data, for those who subscribe; better report customization options; and new AI models for improved performance.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

The Attribute broadcast advertising attribution program now offers deeper analytic capabilities; better management and campaign prep along with improvements in administration and user management as well; and better understanding of broadcast integration with the internet; media.

Veritone President Ryan Steelberg said, “Our already comprehensive campaign search and analytics applications keep evolving as we work closely with our customers to continuously identify opportunities to help automate their processes. Further, we’re improving the interface to make it easier and more intuitive to deliver actionable intelligence that helps drive ad revenue and advertiser satisfaction.”

Info: www.veritone.com

 

The post Veritone Polishes Discovery and Attribute appeared first on Radio World.

These transmitters seem like silent sentinels but they tell very good time.

It is nestled in a farmer’s field in southwestern Ottawa, Canada, in a protected area known as the Greenbelt, surrounded by miles of sprawling suburbia.

It is CHU, Canada’s own automated time station.

Operating from a 1940s-era transmitter building and three vertical antenna towers, CHU broadcasts automated voice time signals in both English and French 24/7.

Its broadcasts are transmitted on 3.33, 7.85 and 14.67 MHz, and are heard through central/eastern Canada and the eastern United States, plus many other areas of the planet on a regular basis.

The unassuming exterior of CHU in southwestern Ottowa.

CHU’s time service is operated by Canada’s National Research Council, with the station being remotely controlled from the NRC’s Montreal Road headquarters central Ottawa some 12 miles away. The time signals are based on CHU’s trio of atomic clocks on-site, which are constantly checked against the atomic clocks at NRC headquarters.

“We are equipped with 1960s-era 10 kW transmitters that have been highly modified over the years,” said Bill Hoger. He is the Research Council officer who maintains the unmanned station as part of his overall duties along with two other off-site technicians.

One of CHU’s three towers.

“Before we moved to 7.85 from 7.335 MHz in 2009 due to an ITU frequency reallocation, we ran 7.335 MHz at 10 kW, our highest output power at CHU,” said Hoger. “But after the move we got complaints from a person in New Zealand who said we were causing interference, so we cut our power to 5 kW peak.” (CHU’s other transmissions run at lower powers.)

CHU was launched as experimental station 9CC at the Dominion Observatory in downtown Ottawa. Regular time broadcasts began using the callsign VE9OB in 1929.

In 1938 it became CHU, and in 1947 the station was moved to its current flat rural site in a project to boost its transmitting power, enlarge its antenna farm and extend its reach.

Faraday cage blocks unwanted electromagnetic fields.

The idea behind VE9OB/CHU was to provide accurate time-keeping information to people across Canada, especially those in rural and remote areas who needed accurate time and didn’t have local access to it. The country’s vast spaces and its government’s determination to bridge them is why it has been a pioneer in national microwave and satellite communications for decades.)

Atomic clocks inside the cage.

“Initially our service was just a constant frequency with patterns of Morse Code pulses in it to indicate the time,” said Hoger. More Morse Code information such as station identification was added in the 1930s, with recorded voice time messages coming from a mechanical “speaking clock” starting in 1952. This system used recorded time announcements on film whose playback was controlled remotely by the clocks. “We then went to digital playback in the 1990s,” he said.

Generation and measurement of signals in the CHU control room.

In its early days, CHU had personnel on site, but today the station runs itself with occasional human intervention. Still, it has a following: “We receive listener reports from around the world, and send out QSLs (reception report cards) on a regular basis,” Hoger said. Meanwhile, the NRC keeps this 1940s-facility maintained and repaired.

The post CHU, Canada’s Time Station appeared first on Radio World.

Attorney John Garziglia, a well-known presence in radio broadcast industry legal circles whose familiarity with the industry is rooted in his own past on-air and programming work, will retire at the end of this month.

Womble Bond Dickinson announced his pending departure and said media attorney Reid Avett, who recently joined the firm, will help lead its efforts in broadcasting.

According to a bio released by the company, Garziglia began representing broadcast clients in private practice in 1984.

“His focus in recent years has been AM radio revitalization, representing clients ranging from large broadcasting corporations to state broadcasters’ associations to small, local radio stations,” it stated.

“As part of this practice, Garziglia led the broadcasting industry’s efforts at the FCC to enable numerous AM stations to acquire and be awarded FM translators.”

Avett called Garziglia “A key architect of building a thriving broadcast practice, and we all are grateful for his work and leadership.” Marty Stern heads the firm’s Communications, Technology & Media team.

Garziglia has spent his entire private practice career at WBD and its predecessors. He worked at radio stations in St. Louis and Washington as an air talent and program director before going to law school. He began his legal career at the FCC, processing AM station assignment and transfer applications. He also prosecuted broadcast station license hearings for the FCC’s Hearing Branch before administrative law judges.

Garziglia’s writing and comments have appeared in Radio World many times. Just a sampling from recent years:

FM Translator, Booster Advocates Disagree in Origination Dispute (2020)

82 Broadcasters Want to Change the Definition of a Small Station (2019)

Garziglia: Main Studio Rule Is “an Easy Target” for Elimination (2017)

What Does President Trump Mean for Radio? (2016)

 

The post John Garziglia Will Retire appeared first on Radio World.

Bill Hieatt, an engineer with business expertise who was known in radio for his work at GeoBroadcast Solutions and First Broadcasting, has died. He was 56.

At GBS he was chief technology officer. His death comes as the Federal Communications Commission has just issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to consider allowing the company’s geotargeting technology to be used on FM boosters in the United States.

Hieatt had oversight of the company’s technology operations, according to his LinkedIn page, including “system architecture definition, network infrastructure design, Single Frequency Network (SFN) RF coverage/field measurements/model tuning, project management, intellectual property development, patent applications, field trials, customer presentations/webinars, system and feature development, and more.”

He prepared reports to the FCC and regulatory bodies, and developed intellectual property including at least two patents.

[Read a commentary by Bill Hieatt about geo-targeting.]

For several years at the beginning of this century, Hieatt was VP of engineering and software development for First Broadcasting, a merchant banker specializing in acquisition and development of U.S. radio stations and broadcast properties.

There he was responsible for new technology and software initiatives. In that job he identified radio station upgrades, developed proprietary broadcast allocation and RF propagation software and authored seven patents.

Hieatt worked for several other technical firms outside of broadcast during his career. Early on he joined Motorola Solutions as a graduate intern and became principal staff engineer. At one point he also founded a music label/media firm called GetGo Music Management.

According to his obituary he held a bachelors and master of science in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington and earned multiple MBAs.

The post Bill Hieatt Dies, Was CTO of GBS appeared first on Radio World.